Risk It All
by fantasygirlforevs
Summary: The first of my series. It basically just retells the story of Katniss Everdeen and The 74th Annual Hunger Games, but with a little unexpected twist.
1. Introduction

You'd think that someone would've notice. The pain. The trauma. The sorrow. She showed it all, even in the games. Yet, her we are, wondering what we could've done to save all of them from the torture. Now, because of our ignorance and arrogance, we have lost our loved ones, the ones who gave us a reason to live. Ever since, they have always haunted my dreams and stripped me of my innocence. And to ever think I was nieve. They were cruel. They were a menace in my head and to my memories. They killed Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire.


	2. The Reaping

The most important and cruel day of the year: The Reaping. Yes, the day of cruel punishment and tears for the loved lives of children. Fun! And then we wonder why District 13 rebelled against the Capitol. My mother has always weeped like a fetus every single year, no matter how old I get. It's been 4 years, and I have yet to be picked. But, this year is different than the others, what with prim being entered in her first Reaping and what not. I don't even know how mother is going to do this year, especially since father has been gone for some time now. Unlike my mother, instead of mourning his death, I decided to learn how to thrive without his support. Hunting, trading, the basics of life. But, for a while, my mother stoned out on Prim and I, so it was just me who could do anything about our state of life. But, the townspeople wouldn't buy what I was selling, and at that point, I wasn't at my peak strength of my hunting experience. That would lead up to the interaction that was portrayed in saving my family and I. The boy with the bread, possibly the love of my life.

"It was a cold, raining night. I had just tried to sell some of Prim's old baby clothes to the townspeople. Then again, why would someone want to buy old baby clothes? Point is, my family was starving. Sooner or later, we would all die. District 12, my home (not a great home, but still a home), would never see a glimpse of us again. But, then it happened. The boy with the bread. I saw him, and he obtained a glimpse of me. My cold, shivering, wet body, totally vulnerable to anyone or anything coming my way. He had a bleak expression on his face, and a red blotch of skin, appearing as if he was struck by a hand. Probably his mother, for as far as I know, she despises children more than burnt bread, which is what he was holding. He was probably supposed to give the non-presentable bread to the pigs, but the pigs didn't get it all. Out of nowhere, an object flung towards me, and pelted against my body. It was the bread! But, why would he give it to me, the girl he doesn't even know? He probably pitied me, but I still felt something. Not anger, not sadness, not innocence. I felt something magical. The next day at school, we shared a single glance, due to the paired stare at the single dandelion of the school yard. It was our dandelion. It was our moment."

Enough of the boring flashbacks of my horrible childhood, I had to get ready for the dreading Reaping. I take a good rinse-and-scrub of a bath. Afterward, I walk up to my bed to find mother's favorite pastel blue reaping dress, just laying there. I put the dress on, ironically finding it to fit perfectly to the form of my body. When I find my way to the main room in our house, I see Prim with mother, fiddling with my fingers, while mother works on her side braids. Once mother is done, she starts to make the final adjustments to my hair. Prim believes that I look amazing, but I would've died to look like her when I was twelve years old. Well, time to go to the worst day of Prim's life. But, for me, it's basically just another ordinary day. My name is in there so many times, they might as well just call my name now. Unlike Prim, whose name is only in there once, for I wouldn't let her put her name in more times for extra grain. I just couldn't risk losing her like I lost my father: unexpected and painful. So, I gave Prim a "good-luck charm": a mockingjay pendant. It was supposed to protect her from the trauma from getting picked, as if that worked. But, we're not there yet. But soon, you just wait for it. The moment we get there, Prim trips over her own feet from the shock of the peacekeepers, for I was a _great sister_, and didn't tell prim about the whole Reaping process. Aren't I a good sister? Anyhow, after I calmed her down, telling her that she wasn't going to get picked (boy, did I lie!), but was then separated from her and put in my own age group. I glance around, looking at the girls and boys surrounding me, when I see them. His warm, intriguing eyes. The boy with the bread. Damnit, he's actually pretty good looking! I told myself, concentrate on Prim and mother, not on something as foolish as love and fantasy. That's when the reaping started. Some ditsy woman in the most ridiculous get-up I have ever seen comes to the center of the stage and starts to speak very frequently, mainly why the Hunger Games even occurs and why its pinned on us younger adults and what not. Ok, we get it! The ditsy woman finally finishes and goes to the glass containers filled with all of the female names. My name is in there enough times, I wouldn't be surprised if I got picked today. She gets the folded-up paper, and goes back to the podium. I totally zoned out, so all I hear is "Everdeen". Damnit, I knew this would happen! But, no one is staring at me. And there is only one other Everdeen in this Reaping. That's when I totally lost it.


End file.
